Air mattresses have been around for sometime. However, generally, these mattresses are intended for recreation, such as flotation in the water, or as temporary bedding such as on camp outs, or visits away from home.
Similarly, conventional spring mattresses have been around for a long time. These mattresses generally have a plurality of vertically oriented, horizontally spaced springs within the enclosed mattress chamber. These conventional mattresses rely on these internal springs to provide the necessary support and firmness of the mattress. The firmness of an individual mattress is determined by the nature of the springs used in its manufacture. Thus, while the firmness of a mattress may be varied at the time of its manufacture by an appropriate selection of springs, the firmness is set, once the manufacture is complete. There is no means for adjusting the firmness of the mattress once it leaves the plant. Additionally, while the manufacturer may provide mattresses of varying firmness in his product line, the number of such selections is obviously limited. Due to production considerations, the manufacture is not able to routinely offer mattresses of individually tailored firmnesses. Furthermore, to the extent that a mattress of individually tailored firmnesses may be special ordered, such one-of-a-kind mattress is necessarily quite expensive. Then again, once the mattress is manufactured, its firmness is fixed and can not be further adjusted.
Thus, there is a great need for a mattress which is able to support an individual at rest and which also provides a means for adjusting the firmness of the mattress to suit individual requirements and tastes.